The Lay Centre in Rome and the Catholic Theological Union at Chicago are to form an alliance. The move is designed to provide new education and inter-religious opportunities as well as provide a greater number of graduate students with the chance to experience the home of global Catholicism.

The Chicago institution is the United States' largest Roman Catholic graduate school of theology and ministry while the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas is a prestigious international residential and educational organisation for lay people studying at Rome